Fashion designers shooting for the top

ONE of WA’s top indigenous designers had an opportunity to showcase her clothes for a Malaysian fashion magazine last week.

Utisan Magazine sent a team to WA to capture the creations of Francine Kickett, of BushWA Indigenous Designs, together with pieces from Pauline Emiliani at Sliprail Fashions.

The South West Development Commission, in conjunction with the WA Tourism Commission, organised and hosted the group in a bid to gain international exposure. The South West became a backdrop to the two-day fashion sh0ot using indigenous models from the Black Pearl Modelling Agency in Perth.

The Malaysian fashion shoot follows a successful visit to Kuala Lumpur in April by a delegation of Noongar artists and the South West Development Commission’s Aboriginal economic development officer, Flyn Narkle.

Ms Kickett recently returned from Hong Kong Fashion Week and her designs are to appear on catwalks at Malaysian Fashion Week in October. Pauline Emiliani, brought up in the South West town of Burekup, recently won a natural fibres design award at Mercedes Australian Fashion Week.